First there was the end of winter, when I obsessed over the first bloom in the garden, a tiny crocus. I posted so much about it that I probably should have renamed my blog temporarily to Crocus Dreams Gardens.

Well, there was the first (and probably only) Garden Bloggers’ Hoe Down. That was loads of good clean fun with hoes of all sizes, shapes, and ages.

And all year I kept telling everyone to embrace stuff, stuff they didn’t like. It started with weeds. Then there were insects, botanical names… whatever I thought someone might not like, I told them to embrace it!

At this point, I ought to embrace the end of this letter. I told myself to keep it short, sweet and simple, like a Twitter tweet.

Comments

Merry Christmas and a very happy New Year to you, Carol! I hope you find everything you wish for under your tree. And may all your rabbits be ones who leave presents instead of the ones who eat your beans. The word verification is "jested"...but I'm being serious!

Thank you for this delightful letter CArol. I wish for you the same things and good health to go along with them. Merry Christmas and a Happy Healthy New Gardening Year. I will look forward to all the Gads, Embracing and Obsessing a Garden Blogger can stand.

Great remembrances and good times abounded in your garden and on the internet this year. I'm glad we got to know each other better at the Spring Fling. It was worth stepping out of our comfort zones wasn't it?

Thanks for the link to the Christmas Cottontail story, Carol; I must have missed that post. I think you have been very good this year, and he will be sure to visit you and leave lots of goodies in your garden.

Thank you for all the great advice and for sharing your gardening wisdom this year, Carol. I've learned so much here! May you have a wonderful Christmas.

I love that your letter is really a gratitude list, an enumeration of all the goodness you experienced in 2008. I wish you all that much and more in the coming year (when I might even get the hang of Bloom Day and also show off my very sexy stainless steel scuffle hoe as well if there's another hoe down...we shall see).

I enjoy reading through your summary--more than any other year I've been garden blogging 2008 seems packed with special events and it's interesting to see them through your eyes. Just this time last year I was rushing around trying to put the Spring Fling site together and create a logo, wondering (with Pam, Diana, and Bonnie) if anyone would come and what we'd do if they did.

When you let Pam cajole you (along with Kathy Purdy @ Cold Climate Gardening) into being our special guest speakers, we knew Spring Fling would be a success--and it was beyond our wildest imaginings.

And then Twitter came into our lives and the entire dynamic changed again. Thanks for keeping us informed, inspired, and entertained on all these fronts. Best wishes in 2009.